Viola Davis

“The other collaborators – that’s not their life work, telling stories, making them better and wanting to make them better. One of the great things for me is she just kept pushing me – sometimes I walk away too soon. I shouldn’t, and I didn’t in this case.”

“because what it encapsulates is someone stepping into their purpose. It gives me goose bumps. And that’s how I felt about Michael B Jordan.”

“Michael B Jordan is an incredible human and an incredible leader,”

“It was a chance to live in another world,”

“That’s just 30% of who I am in that book. There’s a lot of things you don’t remember, a lot of things you can’t fit in, a lot of things that you haven’t processed yet and a lot of things you don’t want to share,”

“Homebody, totally. I'm total introvert,”

“To make it so it's not a lightning rod. And I think that's why this story is so good, why it's so powerful, because we're going into areas that people aren't [talking about]. We need to talk about it.”

“I felt a responsibility to women who have been sexually assaulted and raped, especially children, as I am one of them,”

“All of it. Every single bit of my story influenced all of these characters. I feel that it is my duty to honor six-year-old Viola. I can't sort of think about her dimples without thinking about the fact that she always felt ugly.”

“I can change the way Black women are seen,”

“Once I leave Juilliard, most of what I’ll be asked to do are Black characters which people will not feel that I am Black enough,”

“I feel that as a Black actress, I’m always being tasked to show that I have range by doing white work,”

“I think I decided to be an actor because acting was just a cosmic carrot for a much higher journey. A journey in finding me, finding a sense of belonging, finding my worth,”

“Everything! I was in shock that I could do it. When I started, I’m not gonna lie, I told my husband: ‘I don’t know if this is gonna work, but I’m gonna do the best I can.’ Then, all of a sudden we were doing it… and I’m still alive!”

“I approached her like a real woman,”

“Because we have to talk about it – that’s why. And why not?”

“I try not to fast-forward,”

“I carry a story within myself… I absolutely love stories. That’s a place of connection.”

“I think actors are storytellers, I think people are storytellers,”

“That’s a question that can bring out some great storytelling; it could probably even agitate some great emotions,”

“I’m a screamer, even at soccer games,”

“But with ‘Judge Stone,’ it’s like running in a field of cherry blossoms and daisies and just letting your imagination rip and roar.”

“I wanted it to be grounded in some level of truth as much as I can muster.”

“The foundation of it made for a great thriller, but it wasn’t as character-driven. That’s when I felt like my gifts could be useful,”

“That line is constantly playing out in my mind,”

“When I was 9, I said, ‘I’m going to be a writer,’ and I wanted to be a crime writer,”

“It’s extremely exciting what he’s going to become. Now he’s getting into directing. and he is going to bring African American filmmaking into a beautiful place.”

“And people responded to my writing, especially my fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Cody. Whenever someone notices you’re really good at something, it becomes a portal.”

“Me and my husband [actor and producer Julius Tennon] have been laughing for two days,”

“And so, you write, and you write, and you write, and you write. And somewhere in there, something clicks.”

“I wanted to be a writer when I was nine years old; it was my fantasy,”

“Oh man, we ate the hell out of that chocolate, let me tell you!”

“And guess who never walks a dog now? I mean, she does walk the dog, but you know how kids are.”

“I just like to be regular. I don't want to put on makeup. I don't want to try to be anyone else, other than myself.”

“I don't know why, maybe because I loved the Bobbsey Twins books. I was like, 'Oh. I could make a life of that.'”

“I can do the best I can with Tennessee Williams, but he writes for fragile white women,”

“It’s technical training to deal with the classics,”

“Beautiful work. But it’s not me.”

“I totally understand that. But what it denies is the human being behind all of that.”

“All those white actors have to do is play all white characters. That’s not me,”

“So then I’m caught in a quagmire. This sort of in-between place of not understanding how to use myself as the canvas.”

“Juilliard was an out-of-body experience, because, once again, I did not think that I could use me. Me needed to be left at the front door, even though me was what got me in there.”

“I mean, I don't have anything to do with how people see me, but when I come on a set, I see them as peers,”

“I'll tell you how I deal with that: I don't deal with that. I don't feel like I'm the greatest of all time,”

“I was curious and that's how I started my journey.”

“but not necessarily a better actor. She explained that the formal technical training she received helped her play classic roles from Shakespeare, Chekhov, O'Neill, and Strindberg, but added”